aid in times of need.

When Dane scrambled up the last pull, staggered, and went down to his
knees again, he knew he was done. He did not even move at an excited cry
from Nymani, echoed a moment later by Asaki. It was not until the latter
leaned over him, a canteen open in his hand, that Dane aroused a little.

"Drink!" the Khatkan urged. "We have found a water tree. This is fresh."

The liquid might have been fresh, but it also had a peculiar taste,
which Dane did not note until he had gulped down a generous swallow. At
that moment he was past caring about anything but the fact that he did
have a portion of drinkable stuff in hand.

Here the stunted, unnatural growth of the swamplands had given away to
the more normal vegetation of the jungle-clad lowlands. Had they come
clear across the swamp, Dane wondered dully, or was this only a large
island in the midst of the stinking boglands?

He drank again and regained strength enough to crawl to where his
shipmates lay. It was some time before he was interested in much besides
the fact that he could drink when he wished. Then he watched Jellico
waver to his feet, his head turned eastward. Tau, too, sat up as if
alerted by the _Queen's_ alarm buzzer.

The Khatkans were gone, perhaps back to the water tree. But all three of
the spacemen heard that sound, a far off throbbing rhythm which was a
vibration as well. Jellico looked to Tau.

"Drums?"

"Could be." The medic screwed the cap back on his canteen. "I'd say we
have company--only I'd like to know what kind!"

They might have been mistaken about the drums, but none of them could
have been mistaken about the bolt which came out of nowhere to slice
through a tree trunk as a knife might slash wet clay. Blaster--and a
particular type of blaster!

"Patrol issue!" Tau lay flat, squeezing himself against the earth as if
he wished he could ooze into it.

Jellico wriggled toward the bush in answer to a low call from Asaki, and
the others made a worm's progress in his wake. Under cover they found
the Chief Ranger readying his needler.

"Poacher camp here," he explained bleakly. "And they know about us."

"A perfect end to a stinking day," remarked Tau dispassionately. "We
might have guessed something of this sort was waiting." He tried to rub
away some of the dried clay coating his chin. "But do poachers use
drums?"

The Chief Ranger scowled. "That is what Nymani has gone to find out."

VII

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